Summer Courses

You may take summer courses at JMU or at other colleges or universities. Some students use summer as a way to get ahead, catch up on coursework, or to take courses that normally have restrictions on them during the academic year; for example, art classes.

If you are planning to take a course repeat credit or repeat forgive, it has to be taken through JMU, because only courses taken through JMU figure into your GPA.

Courses at JMU

There are 5 summer sessions for Undergraduate students at JMU, and you can view the dates for the different sessions on the Registrar’s Dates and Deadlines website. Summer courses have special tuition, housing, and financial aid considerations:

Registration for summer courses usually begins around the 3rd week in March. You can start searching for summer courses through MyMadison usually starting in mid-March. More information can be found on the JMU Summer Session website.

Online Courses

A number of the courses are offered online and will be noted as such when you search in MyMadison. Often the time and location is marked as TBA. Click on the section number, to see the notes section that often provides more information. If you still have questions, contact the instructor. For your convenience, the Registrar keeps a web page dedicated to showing you all of the courses being offered online each semester, including summer.

Contingency Courses

When you are searching for summer courses, you may see the word “contingency” in the notes section of the course. This means that the course must have a certain number of students registered in order for it to be offered. Often that number is 10. Even though you have registered for the course, if it doesn’t meet the required number of students registered, the class could be canceled.

Do not sign up to take a class at another institution until you've heard back from the Registrar's Office that your Permission to Transfer Courses request has been approved.

After completing the course(s) elsewhere, remember to have your transcript sent to JMU so that the courses will be added to your JMU transcript. You must earn a “C” or better for the course to transfer, and the grade does not figure into your JMU GPA. Transcripts should be sent to:

James Madison University Office of the Registrar
Attn: Transfer Credit
800 South Main Street, MSC 3528
Harrisonburg, VA 22807